The Recognition Church
The Recognition Church is a predominantly-Christian religious organization headquartered in Sardinia. After the Darkening of the World, they emerged as the holders-of-power in the former United States, which had dissolved following extensive damage to it's military in the war, political upheaval in Washington and elsewhere, and a major loss to it's populace after a decade of fighting abroad. How they took power in North America is an issue of heavy debate among scholars worldwide and on the Colonies, although the subject is extremely taboo in modern America. The Church was founded in the mid-1850's in the rural southern United States by Emmit Sullivan-Shaw and Alistar Snow, after they became alienated by the church they previously attended. Originally consisting of twelve members and held in Sullivan's barn, it soon expanded into an old schoolhouse. It's congregation expanded as time went on, and by the start of the Civil War, over 400 people attended weekly. It didn't grow much as the war picked up pace, so many men off fighting, and many of it's teenage members going off and serving in various ways. Makeshift hospitals, kitchens, missionary and motivational work. After the war, things returned to normal for the still-small Church. Alistar Snow, however, had died in combat. Upon learning this, his wife Eden committed suicide; their two year old son, Haden, was adopted by a neighboring family. The next forty-five years saw exponential growth for the Church, with more than 268 churches opening across the entire country, North and South. With the coming of the twentieth century came greater expansion. Missionary work abroad began, and by 1910 the Church had a presence, however minor, in 15 cities worldwide. When World War 1 broke out, the Church was there to provide aid, both physical and spiritual, behind the front lines. Their appearance on foreign soil predated that of the American Expeditionary Forces by several years. The interwar period saw great change within the Church leadership; with the last of the Snow grandchildren having died in 1924, the Brighton Family inherited control. Patriarch Merle Brighton had been a career businessman, and was quite aggressive. Under his leadership, and to the dismay of many within, the Church embarked into the world of profiteering. It started with seasonal lodgings, built by Church families on large swaths of land bought through Merle's companies. Attendance at these lodges, billed as "getaways for close-knit Christian families looking for a comfortable vacation from home", was indeed great, and the Church profited greatly. So did Merle Brighton. In 1928, he was arrested for his part in a large alcohol smuggling racket, and Church leadership went to his brother, Parnell. With the Great Depression came the end of the Church's quasi-legal business ventures. The lodges closed. With money scant, many of the churches overseas closed down. When Hitler took power in Germany, Parnell's brother-in-law, Jacob, began engaging in business with the Nazis. At the same time, the Church's presence in Germany was fading fast. In early 1934 it was discovered that the marble Jakob was selling was in fact mined from Germany itself, and he was scamming the Nazis. He was arrested, and not long after, ceased to exist there following threats by the Sturmabteilung. Rather then return to the U.S., the missionaries moved west into France. When the Spanish Civil War broke out two years later, they reorganized and began work there, aiding the injured. Parnell Brighton died on April 12th, 1945, the same day as President Roosevelt. His son George would lead the Church into the post-WW2 world. More like his uncle Merle than his father, George configured how to work some of the Marshall Plan money into the Church's coffers, which was almost in it's entirety used in rebuilding projects in Europe. What wasn't, was funneled through various charities and used to empower the Church community, and to expand it's influence. By now, over 1,200 families across eleven states regularly attended local churches, 200 of which have been devotees predating the century. Wealthier communities in the northern U.S. added to the congregations and in turn, the Church coffers. Between 1954 and 1962, the Church grew ten times it's prewar size, and because of this, George again reformed the internal structure, also taking into account the growing presence overseas. He died in East Germany in 1964, when a building he was visiting to witness the establishment of an orphanage collapsed. His brother Edward declined succession, citing the "loss of his faith and imminent departure to Asia to begin anew". From here, Church leadership passed to Elder Caleb Ross, whom George had wished to replace him should Edward turn it down(which he assumed would happen). Caleb was voted out of power in 1966 after he expressed an interest in relocating primary Church operations overseas, specifically Sardinia. He was replaced not by one individual, but by the Church's Elder Council, which began solidifying during the war. They led the Church into a new era, increasing their reach. They adopted a new image, projecting themselves as a nationless collective of followers of Jesus Christ. Church doctrine became that "we wait no longer for our Lord's return, we find him. For he is here, he is now." Connections to the Church of old were mostly severed, or overhauled. In 1978, the Church opened it's first U.S. government-funded learning institution, through the work of Elder Duke Pasko. Duke was a former politician, and had connections in Washington. Before 1980, the Church opened six more funded schools. In 1982, the Church was featured on a prominent French morning television program, and on numerous magazines throughout Europe. Unbeknownst to any of his colleagues, Duke Pasko had purchased(with Church money) 200 acres of land in Sardinia, at the base of Gennargentu. Despite his vote to oust Caleb Ross, he thought the man "had some good ideas". Duke did nothing with the land for several months, but eventually contracted an Italian architect to construct a lavish resort there in 1984, which he saw operated through a proxy corporation supplemented by some of his more powerful friends. Duke fell ill from lung cancer in 1988. Weak and emaciated, he left most of his personal belongings to his nephew, Bruno, as his own two sons died many years before. Unbeknownst to Bruno, tucked within some file boxes was cluster of folders containing all the paperwork related to the land in Sardinia, the resort and all related logistics. The file boxes were put, having not been investigated, into a storage shed in rural Missouri, where they remained for eight years. When Bruno emptied the shed, he went through the boxes, and discovered what had been hidden for so long. When the matter was further investigated, it was learned that the resort had remained open until 1993, and had been quite successful. In an account in Duke's name, there were hundreds of thousands of dollars that had been building up for years. Bruno brought the matter(with the exception of the money) before the Elder Council, but none of them really cared. In 1997, there was a shooting at one of the Church's schools in Illinois. 15 year old Leonard Pell killed eighteen fellow students and three teachers with a number of different firearms, before killing himself in one of the girl's restrooms. After the incident, security at the school increased ten-fold, and it became an issue of discussion among the Elders for some time.